Governor-CM tussle leaves DUHS with no VC

Karachi
The tussle between the Singh governor and the chief minister has left the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) without any vice chancellor for the last several days and nobody exactly knows who is running the administrative and financial affairs of the varsity these days.
The secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Dr Mira Ali Azhar, said the politics over the appointment was a disaster for the Sindh’s best heath education university.
“Deliberate efforts are being made to destroy the health education in Sindh,” he said. “I wonder why the authorities have failed to appoint the vice chancellor on merit so far.”
The tussle between the two top constitutional authorities of the province ended in stalemate after Sindh Governor Dr Isharat-Ul-Ebad withdrew notification of Dr Noshad Shaikh’s appointment but also sent back the summary sent from Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah to appoint Dr Saeed Qureshi for the empty post.
Reportedly, the pro-vice chancellor, Dr Umer Farooq, was supposed to run the university’s affairs, but he had been terminated by the former vice chancellor, Dr Masood Hameed, before his retirement.
A senior official of the Sindh government on the condition of not mentioning his name told The News that that a search committee headed by Azra Pechuho had finalised Dr Saeed Qureshi for the post and the governor was requested to sign the summary for his appointment.
Instead of acting on the chief minister’s advice, the governor nominated his ‘trustworthy’ Dr Noshad Shaikh.
“The governor and the chief minister held a meeting on Monday and it was decided that the governor would withdraw his notification while he would also send back the summary of the chief minister back for restarting the process,” he claimed. “Both of them are now awaiting the outcome of a petition filed against the search committee to find a suitable vice chancellor. Until the case is decided by the Sindh High Court, they will not intervene into the affairs of the varsity”.
He also claimed that they would not indulge in a row over giving the charge of the varsity to any of their ‘favourites’.
“Prior to this tussle, they also had a disagreement over appointing the acting vice chancellor. The chief minister had notified Dr Umer Farooq to be the acting vice chancellor while the governor had notified KU Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Qaiser as the acting head of the DUHS”, he recalled.
The official, who is associated with the educational affairs, further claimed that Mrs Rana Qamar, the wife of former Vice Chancellor DUHS Dr Masood Hameed, was the ‘de facto’ vice chancellor of the varsity and added that she was aided by Registrar DUHS Nadeem Ahmed and other officials in this regard.
“This situation suits the governor because Masood Hameed’s wife is running the varsity with the help of the registrar. She already holds several portfolios, including the director quality control and the head of hepatitis control program, and she is also running the financial affairs indirectly”, the official claimed.